International organizations continue to fight for release of Mazen Darwish and colleagues

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

His Excellency Dr. Bashar Ja’afari
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations
The Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations
820 Second Avenue, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Dear Ambassador,
I am writing on behalf of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE), a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect press freedom and freedom of expression around the world.
To mark the third anniversary of their arrest, CJFE adds its voice to 70 other organizations in calling for the immediate release of prominent Syrian human rights defenders Mazen Darwish, Hani Al-Zitani and Hussein Gharir. The three men have been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty on the basis of their human rights activities.
Syrian Air Force Intelligence arrested all those who were present including the three human rights defenders during a raid on the offices of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM) in Damascus on February 16, 2012. All the detained SCM members were released, some on bail, except the three men. Darwish is a journalist and the director of the SCM while Al-Zitani and Gharir are both staff members.
The three men were detained for approximately one year in security branches in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance, where they were subjected to ill treatment and torture. They were then transferred to Adra Central Prison in Damascus.
In February 2013, the three were taken before the Anti-Terrorism Court on charges of “publicizing terrorist acts” under Article 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2012. Since then, the court has repeatedly postponed their trial, most recently in January 2015. A new trial date has not yet been set.
Although the government announced a general amnesty on June 9, 2014, that covered the charges against the men, they have not been freed.
The SCM is an important non-governmental organization working to disseminate information regarding the human rights situation in Syria, including media freedom and freedom of expression. It has published studies on media freedom, violations against journalists, and the human rights situation in the country, and has documented reports of detained and disappeared civilians.
The undersigned organizations believe that Darwish, Al-Zitani, and Gharir are being persecuted as a result of their legitimate human rights work and exercise of their right to freedom of expression in response to the ongoing crisis in Syria. The Syrian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the three men and drop all charges against them.
The UN General Assembly, in resolution 67/262 of May 15, 2013 called for the release of the three men. In January 2014, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) also found that the three men had been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty due to their human rights activities and called for their immediate release. UN Security Council Resolution 2139, adopted on February 22, 2014, also demanded the release of all arbitrarily detained people in Syria.
Despite these calls, the three men remain in detention. While Gharir continues to be held in Adra central prison, on January 31 Darwish was transferred to the central prison in Hama, and on February 4 Al-Zitani was transferred to Sweida central prison with no explanation.
The Syrian government should heed the UN’s call and immediately release everyone the government is arbitrarily detaining, the organizations said. Staffan De Mistura, the UN special envoy to Syria, should make the release of peaceful activists, including these three detainees, a key priority.
We thank you for your attention and I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
Arnold Amber, CJFE President
Signatories:
Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture
Arab Forum for Alternatives
Alkarama Foundation
Amnesty International
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)
Arab Foundation for Development and Citizenship (London)
ARJ EU Working group on arts-rights-justice, Chair
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR)
Cairo Center for Development CCD
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Centre for Democracy and Civil Rights in Syria
CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights (CDHR)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Dawlaty
Developmental Interaction Network (DIN)
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
El-Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
Etana for Documentation and Studies
European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR)
Foundation to Restore Equality and Education in Syria
Fraternity Center for Democracy and Civil Society
Freedom House
Front Line Defenders
Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR)
Humanistic Institute for Development Cooperation (HIVOS)
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Initiative for Freedom of Expression – TURKEY
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
International Media Support (IMS)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
Iraqi Al-Amal Association
Iraqi Institute for the Civil Development
Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association (IJRDA)
Iraqi Network for Social Media (INSM)
Lawyer's Rights Watch Canada (LRWC)
Lawyers for Lawyers
Lebanese Center for Human rights
Lualua Centre for Human Rights
Mada Centre for Appeal (Mada for Neda'a)
Madad NGOs
Maharat Foundation
Metro Centre to Defend Journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan
Moroccan Association for Human Rights, the Belgian Section (AMDH)
No Peace Without Justice
Omani Observatory for Human Rights
PAX (The Netherlands)
PEN International
Reporters Without Boarders (RSF)
Samir Kassir Foundation, SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom
Society Action Network (ICAN)
Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
Syrian Female Journalists Network
Syrian human Rights Organization (Swasiah)
Syrian Journalists Association
Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR)
Syrian Women for state of citizenship
Syrian Women Forum for Peace
Syrian Women League (SWL)
The Day After
Tunisian Initiative for Freedom of Expression
Tunisian Organization Against Torture
Violations Documentation Center in Syria (VDC)
Vivarta
Women Now
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Yemeni Organization for the Defense of Human Rights and Democratic Freedoms
Cc: Mr. Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations
The Honourable Rob Nicholson, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs